Being Your Child’s Friend

A friend of mine brought his 2 year old over to the sand box, squatted down to kid level, and introduced his son to the other kids: “This is Satchi. Can he play, too?” He then says, “I’m Satchi’s friend, Jose. We like sandboxes.”

He doesn’t say, “I’m his dad”, but “I’m his friend”.

It really struck me then as being a different attitude than the norm. As I remembered it today, I thought about how many of our interactions with our children are in the context of the parent/child hierarchy, and how seldom it is that we relate to them as friends. We guide and teach and nurture and protect them, but do we befriend them as well?